I'm surprised it has taken us so long to give Friday night football a bash. It has gone reasonably well elsewhere as there have been decent crowds and entertaining games. Motherwell seem big fans of the concept so a game against them seems the ideal one to try it out. However I have to question if this particular fixture is the right time to give it a go. It is the Friday before Christmas so plenty of people will be busy on Christmas nights out and the like. It wouldn't have been so bad if the change had been made earlier in the season, but doing it only a month or so before is pretty poor.
Our recent record against Motherwell is rather average, with little in the way of wins or defeats to concern ourselves with. Last season we drew against them twice and have already managed a draw in the current campaign so it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see the points shared once again. However, Motherwell are going along pretty well at the moment and have moved up to second place, failing to lose their last six league games. Last week they produced a pretty impressive comeback to see Hibs and they'll be confident of extending their unbeaten run.
While Motherwell were coming from two goals down to take three points we were assembling our players inside our own penalty box. The view of most fans seems to be we went to Parkhead on a damage limitation exercise so I suppose it worked as we only shipped two goals. Clearly, tomorrow night's game is a different proposition and we will almost certainly be more attacking - if we're not we might as well chuck it! We really have to get something from this, even if it's not all three points, as while we have improved of late we're still on a disappointingly low points tally.
One way we will be more attacking is by playing a second striker alongside Steven Thompson. He seemed to be rather isolated last week, perhaps unsurprising considering where we were playing, but should have a strike partner. It will almost certainly be Lewis Guy, who will almost certainly be replaced by Sam Parkin after an hour if we're not winning. The return of Paul McGowan would also help our offensive options but even though he was on the bench last week it's rather unlikely he'll start. A sub appearance is probably the best he can hope for. Sadly just as he's coming back we're now without Thomas Reilly after he broke his ankle.
It'll be interesting to see what other changes there are. We have Lee Mair available so he'll start again, but will we see Jon Robertson or Dougie Imrie drop out to make way? Imrie nearly always comes on so we might as well start him, although it would be nice to see Graham Carey get a game as it seems like months ago he last made his way onto the park. Jim Goodwin will return to midfield ahead of his ban on Wednesday, the fact this is a Friday night game meaning both he and Marc McAusland are available and miss the Boxing Day trip to Inverness instead. Whether or not this means they can tuck into some extra turkey I'm not sure...
Motherwell did fantastically well to claim the Champions League spot last season, even if they did only get that due to the comedy show going on at Ibrox. Unsurprisingly they weren't able to make it through to the group stage but it was still a fantastic experience for everyone associate with the club and one the majority of other SPL supporters would love to be able to enjoy. With Rangers now gone they have a chance to take the spot on merit and the Steelmen are currently second, although face fierce competition from the likes of Aberdeen, Hibs and Dundee United. Stuart McCall will be hoping his side can keep their current form going to strengthen their grip on the lucrative spot ahead of the winter break.
The goals of Michael Higdon played a big part in Motherwell's success last season and the forward is at it again this year. During his time with Saints he often came in for criticism due to an apparent lack of workrate but still banged in the goals and he seems to have the same problem at his new club - getting abuse from fans while scoring. This season he has managed 12 goals and is the focal point for a fairly impressive Motherwell attack. Jamie Murphy seems to be back on form as Championship clubs continue to keep vague tabs on his progress, while Estonian sensation Henrik Ojaama has so far been unable to recapture the prowess in front of goal he showed when he arrived at the club at the start of the year. Considering he seemed to be scoring just about every week that's hardly surprising, but recently there are signs he is getting somewhere back to his best.
Motherwell also have some real goal threats from midfield, with Tom Hateley's set-piece delivery a real asset and capable of changing games in a moment. So too is Chris Humphrey, who can cause all sorts of problems when running at defences and was even linked with a move to Liverpool at some point - perhaps slightly less surprising for those of who have seen that god awful documentary. Keith Lasley contributed a rather high number of goals last season given his career record, while Nicky Law has been doing a terrific job alongside him, one of a number of players McCall has brought to the club after working with them during his time at Bradford.
Before this season and the form of Celtic's Fraser Forster you could make a pretty good case for Darren Randolph being the best keeper in the SPL. He's probably now second best - no shame considering Forster's performances in the Champions League - and you wonder how long McCall can keep hold of him, especially as his entire squad are supposedly out of contract in the summer. Shaun Hutchison and Adam Cummings are other players he has to worry about losing but he should still have Stevie Hammell next season as the left back is set to be rewarded with a testimonial next year. Unfortunately, Scotland cap Steven Saunders is also unlikely to be going anywhere soon as he still isn't fit after last season's horrific Achilles' injury.
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